Conveyer roller support assembly



May 22, 1962 w. s. RAYNOR CONVEYER ROLLER SUPPORT ASSEMBLY Filed March28, 1960 INVNTOR Wc'zrren .ifia nor BY M 2 mroifims United States PatentP 3,035,685 CONVEYER ROLLER SUPPORT ASSEMBLY Warren S. Raynor, PortHope, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Mathews Couveyer Company, EllwoodCity, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 28, 1960, Ser. No.18,055 3 Claims. (Cl. 198-202) This invention relates to conveyer rollersupport assemblies and more particularly to a roller support assemblywhich permits the opposite ends of a belt supporting roller to beadjusted independently of each other in a direction longitudinally ofthe conveyer to align the roller axis with respect to the fixed framemembers of the conveyer.

In conveyers employing belts either as the conveying surface or as ameans for driving additional rollers i.e., the so-called power rollconveyer, accurate alignment of the end or direction changing rollers isof great importauce in order that the belt may be accurately trained.Slight misalignment of the rollers tends to drive the belt to one sideor the other. Many devices have been designed for this purpose, howeverin the usual case such devices require additional structure such asspecial end frame sections to be added to the conveyer assembly. Ingeneral, the more satisfactory of the prior art devices are fairlycomplex, and hence expensive.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a conveyer rollersupport assembly of exceedingly practical and efficient constructionwhich requires a minimum modification of the conventionalconveyercomponents.

It is another object of the invention to provide a conveyer rollersupport structure which permits accurate adustment of the roller axis.

The foregoing and other objects are achieved in a roller supportstructure in which a conveyer roller axle has one end located in axialabutment with the inner side of a conventional conveyer frame or siderail. A slot is out through the side rail, the slot having a Width lessthan the thickness of the axle and being elongated in a directionlongitudinally of the conveyer. A mounting block is located on the outerside of the side rail and formed with a pair of lugs which engage theends of the slot in the rail to locate the block longitudinally of therail. The block is constructed with a slot extending inwardly throughthe block the slot having a width substantially equal to that of theslot in the frame rail and likewise being elongated longitudinally ofthe rail. A conventional bolt passes through the two slots and isthreaded axially into the end of the conveyer roller axle. By tighteningthe bolt, the block and axle are clamped against the opposite sides ofthe side rail.

The structure is especially adapted to mount the end rollers and hence,due to the change in direction in the belt, the conveyer roller and itsaxle are urged, by the tension of the belt toward one end of theelongated slots. A bolt is threaded into the block and projects into theslot longitudinally of the slot from the end toward which the rolleraxle is urged by the tension on the belt. By loosening the clampingbolt, the adjusting bolt may be threaded into the block to position theclamping bolt, and hence the conveyer axle, longitudinally within theslot. When the desired position is reached, the clamping bolt istightened, thereby clamping the axle against the inner side of the siderail in the adjusted position.

The engagement between the lugs and the ends of the slot within the siderail locate the block longitudinally of the side rail. To assist thisaction, inwardly projecting teeth are formed on the inner surface of theblock to bite into the outer surface of the side rail when the clampingbolt is tightened.

Other objects and features of the invention will become 3,035,685Patented May 22, 1962 apparent by reference to the followingspecification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view ct one end of a conveyer assemblyemploying the roller support assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1 takenon the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1 taken online 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is an isometric view showing details of the inner side of themounting block and adjusting bolt.

In FIG. 1, the invention is shown as being employed in combination witha conventional belt conveyer which includes a fixed side rail 10, aplurality of support rollers 12 which are rotatably supported in siderail 10 and a conveying belt 14 which is supported upon rollers 12. Itwill be appreciated that the conveyer shown in FIG. 1 includes a pair ofspaced parallel side rails 10, rollers 12 extending transversely betweenthe two side rails and being rotatably supported from the rails. Belt 14passes around an end roller 16 which is supported from side rail 10 bythe novel support means to which the invention is directed. As bestshown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, end roller 16 includes astationary axle 18 upon which roller 16 is rotatably supported as thebearing assembly 20.

The mounting structure includes a mounting block 22 which lies againstthe outer side of side rail 10. The inner side of mounting block 22 isconstructed with a pair of spaced projecting lugs 24 (FIGS. 3 and 4)which are formed to be received within longitudinally elongated slotssuch as 26 cut through the vertical web of side rail 10. As best seen inFIG. 1, slots 26 are elongated longitudinally of the side rail. Forpurposes of illustration, the side rail 10 shown in FIG. 1 has threeslots 26 cut through the rail. One of these slots 26 is obscured by themounting block 22. The two slots 26 which do appear in FIG. 1 indicatethe location in which the mounting block 22 would be placed for othertypes of assemblies-for example the lowermost slot 26 of FIG. 1 would beused if a powered roll assembly were required. The shape of the slot 26which is obscured in FIG. 1 is exactly the same as the shape of the twoslots 26 which do appear.

Mounting block 22 is constructed with a slot 28 which, as best seen inFIGS. 3 and 4 is elongated in a direction longitudinally of theconveyor. The width of slot 28 is substantially equal to the diameter ofa bolt 30 which, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 4 passes inwardly throughslot 28, the aligned slot 26 and is threadably received within a tappedaxial bore 32 in the end of axle 18. It is believed apparent that whenbolt 30 is tightened into tapped bore 32, axle 18 and block 22 will befirmly clamped against the opposite sides of the side rail 10.

An adjustment screw 34 is threaded into a tapped bore 36 which extendsthrough one end of block 22 to permit adjustment screw 34 to be threadedinto the block longitudinally along slot 28. The inner end of screw 34thus forms an adjustable abutment against which bolt 30 is urged by thetension applied to belt 14. By threading screw 34 into bore 36, bolt 30may be positioned at selected locations longitudinally along slot 28. Itis believed apparent that this adjustment will be made only whenclamping bolt 30 is slightly loosened.

To assist lugs 24 in maintaining block 22 at a fixed locationlongitudinally along side rail 10, a pair of in wardly projecting teeth38 are formed at each end of block 22. When clamping bolt 30 istightened, teeth 38 are forcibly driven into the outer surface of siderail 10 to firmly locate block 22 longitudinally of the rail.

Since tapped bore 32 axially overlaps bearing assembly 20, clamping bolt30 provides a convenient means for conducting lubricant to bearing 22.To this end, a central bore 40 passes axially through bolt 30 and asuitable grease fitting 42 is mounted upon the head of bolt 39 tocommunicate with bore 40. A plurality of radial bores such as 44 providecommunication between the chamber at the bottom of tapped bore 32v andradial bores 46 in bearing 20.

Although one side of the conveyer is shown, it will be appreciated thatan identicalmounting assembly is employed on the other side to supportthe opposite end of axle 18. The two roller support assemblies permitindependent adjustment of the respective ends of axle 1.8 to therebyangularly align the axis of roller 16 with respect to the fixed conveyerframe represented by side rails 10. The particular mounting assemblywhich has been described permits an extremely convenient yet preciseadjustment of the angular relationship between the axis of roller 16 andthe conveyer frame while requiring a minimum modification of theconventional conveyer structure-namely the formation of an elongatedslot such as 26 in the conveyer side rail and the formation of thetapped bore 32 in axle 18.

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed and described,it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosedembodiment may be modified. Therefore, the foregoing description is tobe considered exemplary rather than limiting and the true scope of theinvention is that defined in the following claims.

I claim: 7

1. A conveyer roller support assembly comprising an elongated side railhaving a longitudinally elongated opening therethrough, a conveyerroller axle having one end in axial abutment with the inner side of saidside rail adjacent said opening, a mounting block overlying said openingat the outer side of said side rail, said block having a slot extendingoutwardly therethrough elongated in a direction longitudinally of saidconveyer means on said block for locating said block at a stationarylocation upon said side rail with the slot in fsaid block aligned withthe opening in said side rail, a bolt passing inwardly through said slotand axially threaded into said one end of said axle for clamping saidblock and said axle against the respective sides of said side rail, andmeans on said block for adjustably positioning said =bolt longitudinallywithin said slot.

2. A conveyer roller support assembly comprising an elongated side railhaving a longitudinally elongated opening therethrough, a conveyerroller axle having one end in axial abutment with the inner side of saidside rail adjacent said opening, a mounting block having a pair ofinwardly projecting lugs in engagement with the opposite longitudinalends of said opening, said block having a slot extending outwardlytherethrough from an inner end opening located between said lugs, saidslot being elongated longitudinally of said side rail, a bolt projectinginwardly through said slot and threaded axially into said one end ofsaid axle for clamping said axle and said block against the respectivesides of said side rail, and movable abutment means located within saidslot and adjustable longitudinally of said slot to locate said bolt inselected positions longitudinally of said conveyer.

3. A conveyer roller support assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein saidblock includes a pair of inwardly projecting teeth engageable with saidouter side of said side rail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,523,829 Hubbell Sept. '26, 1950

